Ryots rue ‘meagre’ govt. compensation

Field survey to assess crop loss by cyclone begins in Vizianagaram district. According to officials in Horticulture Department, crops in 12,286 hectares have been damaged in the cyclone, incurring losses to the tune of Rs. 21.23 crore to 22,120 farmers.

October 20, 2014 10:52 pm | Updated November 16, 2021 07:15 pm IST - VIZIANAGARAM:

Kongarani Appala Narasaiah, a coconut farmer from Thudem village in Bhogapuram mandal, is worried as to how to remove the coconut trees from his three-acre land, which have been completely damaged by the cyclone.

Around 180 trees on his land have been flattened by Hudhud. He earns Rs. 30,000 in 35-40 days by selling a tender coconut at Rs. 7 each. Staring at a bleak future, Mr. Narasaiah finds the compensation announced by the government meagre to recoup the losses.

“How a compensation of Rs. 1,000 for each damaged tree will help us? I need at least four labourers per tree to clear the damaged ones from my land and each labourer charges Rs. 250 as wage,” he rued.

Vuppula Sanyasi, a farm labour, says he has no work since the cyclonic storm devastated coconut plantation in 2,505 hectares, including the ones in 500 hectares in Thudem and Kavulawada in Bhogapuram and Poosapatirega mandals of the district.

“I used to earn Rs. 250 a day by toiling in my coconut fields. Thudem has 625 white ration card holders and the families survive mainly on coconut and cashew plantations. I do not know what to do now?,” he said.

According to officials in Horticulture Department, crops in 12,286 hectares have been damaged in the cyclone, incurring losses to the tune of Rs. 21.23 crore to 22,120 farmers.

Horticulture Officer Rahim said that a field-to-field survey began on Monday and the loss might go up further. The final survey would complete in a week or 10 days, he added. As per the preliminary estimates, banana plantation was damaged in 3,256h a spread over 12mandals, vegetables in 3,256 ha, coconut in 2,505 ha, cashew 963 ha and papaya in 157 ha.

Collector M.M. Naik hoped that power to all agricultural pump sets would be supplied by the end of this month.

The Collector said removal of uprooted trees would take 10 more days.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.